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Hydrothermal vent clam and tube worm /sup 13/C//sup 12/C: further evidence of nonphotosynthetic food sources

Journal Article · · Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States)
The stable carbon isotope ratios in clam mantle tissues taken from both Galapagos and 21/sup 0/N hydrothermal vent sites were similar to the unusually low ratios of carbon-13 to carbon-12 previously reported for a Galapagos hydrothermal vent mussel. In marked contrast to these bivalues, vestimentiferan worm tissues from a Galapagos vent had isotope ratios that were higher than those of open ocean biota. These observations suggest that more than one nonpelagic and nonphotosynthetic carbon fixation pathway is of nutritional importance to vent animals, and that at least one of these pathways is common to two geographically separated vent sites.
Research Organization:
Univ. of California, Los Angeles
OSTI ID:
6191629
Journal Information:
Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States), Journal Name: Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States) Vol. 213; ISSN SCIEA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English